


Summer's End

by Heart_of_Targness



Category: Sound of Music (1965)
Genre: Anschluss, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2014-12-13
Packaged: 2018-03-01 07:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2764982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_of_Targness/pseuds/Heart_of_Targness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liesl may be innocent and naive when it comes to the world of men, but she knows this is important.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer's End

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thistlerose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thistlerose/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide Thistlerose! I hope you enjoy your gift!

Liesl was running errands in town when she heard about It.

‘It’ was all anyone would talk about, in the shops or on the streets. ‘It’, Liesl quickly discovered, was the announcement the chancellor had made that morning: there would be all sorts of reforms concerning party politics, and more importantly, a vote on the question of independence versus unification with Germany.

There had been talk of unification for as long as Liesl could remember, of course. It was the kind of thing one debated the pros and cons of in a salon with a tumbler of brandy, or in a beer hall with a pint or two or three; Liesl had no head for politics, but she knew Father had always been firmly, empathically against.

But until that lazy late August day, it had always been a purely academic question. The peace treaty forbade it, so whether people thought it would be a good idea or not had always been a moot point. Until, suddenly, it wasn’t.

"It’s serious. This isn’t some public opinion poll," the stationer told everyone and no one in particular as Liesl paid him. "This is about deciding the fate of our country! The chancellor says he’ll abide by the results and he will, you better believe it!"

"I can’t believe this is happening now, and I’m too young to vote!", bemoaned his assistant as he wrapped Liesl’s purchases.

"I don’t know how to vote," the tobacconist confided as Liesl picked up Uncle Max’s usual. "I used to be for unification, but with the current leadership they have over there…"

"Vote for it," the woman behind Liesl insisted. "It’ll rescue the economy from the crapper if nothing else, that lot seem to be on to something there."

At the fruit stall where she had stopped to buy strawberries as a treat for her brothers and sisters, Liesl mustered up the courage to contribute something to the ongoing conversation about It. "Er, isn’t all this going to get us in trouble, with the British and the French and the like?"

The middle-aged laborer buying apples in front of her turned to face her. "Who cares? Sorry Miss, but it’s about time that useless lump sitting at Ballhausplatz grew a spine, I say. Who do these foreign powers think they are that they think they can forbid us who to form a union with? They have no right to meddle in our internal affairs! None!" He shook his fist for emphasis.

"Are you going to vote for unification, then?" she asked, a little taken aback by his vehemence.

The man looked appalled. "Who, me? Hell, no, I want us to stay independent! I’m proud to be Austrian! But it’s the principle of the thing, you understand?"

"Oh please," another customer snorted. "Stop pretending that being Austrian is anything worth being proud of. What is Austria without its Empire? I’ll tell you what it’s worth: nothing! It’s a useless pile of rocks with no resources, no industry, not even a sea port!"

"Now listen there mister, our thousand-year history-"

"-Ended in a lost war, a lost empire, a mountain of debts and a civil war!"

Liesl cut in. "We have our culture too. No matter how bad things get, we have our culture, our love of music…"

The argumentative customer looked her up and down. "Spoken like someone who never had to worry about their next meal. Missy, have you any idea how insane the inflation rate is? How much of the population is unemployed? If being one with Germany can put food in my children’s mouths, then I say let us be Germans."

There were outraged gasps from the other patrons at that pronouncement, and for a terrifying moment it seemed like people would come to blows.

"Hey!" the matron manning the stall intervened. "This isn’t a beer hall, take it somewhere else! Preferably the polling station, next Sunday! Here’s your strawberries and your change, Miss."

***

As she wound her way through the town on her bicycle, one thing was clear to Liesl: honeymoon or no honeymoon, Father would want to be here for the vote.

With a pang, she thought of the calendar sitting on the mantlepiece in the dining room next to two postcards from Paris; it had been Marta’s turn that morning to cross out the day, and there were still nine days until Father and Fraulein Maria - no, Liesl should start to think of her as _Mother_ now - were due to return.

As they drove off to their honeymoon, Liesl had quietly sworn she wouldn’t bother them for anything short of the house burning down, no matter how her siblings begged and insisted that _their_ news was important. If it were Liesl spending a month in Paris with Rolf (and oh, how that thought made her stomach flutter and her cheeks burn!), the last thing she‘d want would be daily updates about Kurt stealing Brigitta’s slice of cake or Gretel catching her finger in the doorjamb.

But this… There was no question, she had to tell Father about It. What if the man at the fruit stall was right and the Entente really didn’t care anymore about what Austria did, and It was just a small article in the back of the French papers, and Father didn‘t read it cover to cover, and no one told him about It because he and Fraulein Maria spent the whole day in their suite in b- (nononono, her brain hastily supplied, _out in the city **sightseeing** and **shopping**_ ,) - and by the time he found out, all the train seats were fully booked for the next five days because of all the _other_ Austrians who wanted to go home to vote, and Father was forced to rent a car and drive all day and all night, and he fell asleep at the wheel and he and Fraulein Maria crashed…

…Well, no. That wasn't very likely at all. Father would probably be perfectly fine. Maybe he didn’t even need to come home. Surely there would be a way for people to vote while abroad. At the Austrian embassy maybe? Was that how these things worked? Liesl would ask Uncle Max, only… Only.

The way to the post office took Liesl past the Festival Arena. She stopped and dismounted and stared at the empty stage, the rows and rows of seats. She had never stood on that stage, and with a pang she realized that now she probably never would. The math was implacable. Three days until the stage rehearsal of the Trapp Family Singers. Four days until performance night. Five days until the all-important Vote. And Uncle Max was predictable. If she asked him for advice, he would tell her not to bother Father, Father could probably vote from Paris, if Liesl really felt she had to she could send a telegram on Saturday, Father could take the night train and be here Sunday before the polling stations closed.

If Father got home before Sunday, he would find out about the performance at the Festival. And if he found out about the performance, he would forbid it. No limelight, no adoring crowd enraptured by Liesl’s voice. All that hard work, the hours of practice - and the little ones would be so disappointed… And Uncle Max…

But if there was no way to vote from Paris, and unanticipated delays made Father arrive too late to vote, he would never forgive Liesl. And Liesl would never forgive herself. Because she loved Father, but she also loved Austria. There was really no question: she knew what she had to do.

If Father came home early, she would feign surprise, and beg him in private not to reveal he had gotten a message from her. She would make it up to the others somehow. And, well, she suspected it wouldn’t be Uncle Max’s first failed venture.

The empty stage seemed to beckon. Who knew, maybe a honeymoon in Paris and the prospect of securing Austria’s independence once and for all would put Father in an _exceptionally_ good mood. Maybe the Trapp Family Singers would yet sing on that stage to the applause of thousands.

Liesl turned her back to the stage, got back onto her bicycle and rode off.

She had a telegram to send.

**Author's Note:**

> -In real life, the Anschluss took place in March 1938. The movie doesn't give a date, but plot clues indicate that it's late August-ish when it happens. I chose to follow the movie's lead.  
> -Movieverse!Austria also shows no signs of the Great Depression, the recent civil war and the empathically-not-Nazi but still fascist government Real!Austria was saddled with as the result. For the sake of my sanity I choose to believe this stuff was going on in the background, we just never see it because the Movieverse von Trapps are loaded (unlike their real life counterparts, who at this point were in pretty dire financial straits and competed in festivals for the prize money). Movie!Georg clearly invested wisely and/or had phenomenal luck.  
> -The vote discussed in this fic never took place, because Nazi troops rolled in the *day before* it was scheduled and promptly cancelled the whole thing. However, there was a referendum held later, on April 10th, when the Austrians were basically asked to confirm Hitler as head of state. They voted 99.73% in favor, and the fait became accompli.  
> -Ballhausplatz 2 is the official residence of the Austrian Chancellor.  
> -It's worth noting that Austria's situation WRT industry and natural resources is not nearly as dire as Cynical Fruit Buyer makes it sound, but he does have a point.


End file.
